Crimsons win 31-27 shootout

Published
12:00 am CDT, Friday, October 12, 2007

The Cardiac Crimsons survived again Friday night.

Barely.

This time, nobody at Kraushaar-Rosenberger Field could exhale until the final second ticked away, as Lincoln quarterback Jacob Harnacke�s pass to the corner of the end zone sailed over receiver Kyle Frick�s hands and sealed Jacksonville High�s fourth straight victory, 31-27.

Harnacke and Frick had hooked up on a 52-yard pass play on the previous snap, after JHS defenders prematurely celebrated with chest-bumps and high-fives as Lincoln�s offense got set at its own 38-yard line with 13.7 seconds showing on the game clock.

�I got some film correction to do, because we were celebrating too much on that last drive,� said JHS head coach Mark Grounds. �High-fiving and doing stuff, that is not characteristic of how you play Crimson football. It darn near bit us in the butt.�

Senior Quintin Leetham saved Jacksonville that embarrassment by chasing Frick out-of-bounds at the JHS 10 with four seconds to go. Then Harnacke threw incomplete in the end zone as time expired, and Crimson players erupted with relief.

�Leetham, that was a great effort by him,� said junior Kendall Phelps, one of the Crimsons� offensive heroes. �(Leetham�s) a senior, and he wanted this one bad, as all the seniors did. It was a great effort by everybody on this whole team.�

The Crimsons, now 5-3 overall, have all but guaranteed that their wild 2007 season will continue for at least one extra week. Jacksonville will also finish third in the Central State Eight, at 4-3, despite losing its first three league games.

�This was a great high school football game,� said JHS head coach Mark Grounds, whose team rallied from a 20-10 fourth-quarter deficit. �This is what�s best about high school sports: kids who believe and then rise to the occasion on both sides. I�m extremely proud that the Crimsons came out on top.�

The matchup between two of the Central State Eight�s top quarterbacks, Lincoln�s Harnacke and Jacksonville�s Blake Schnitker, actually exceeded its advanced billing. Harnacke finished 19-of-38 passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns, while Schnitker completed 15-of-20 for 162 yards and a score while also rushing for 70 yards. Neither threw an interception, and both directed clutch scoring drives in a see-saw final quarter.

�It�s a shame that either team had to lose that game,� said Grounds. �Coach (Jared) Shaner has really done a great job with the Lincoln program. The kids believe. Harnacke is a great quarterback, and Frick is a tremendous receiver.�

The Crimsons� biggest offensive hero Friday was Phelps, who scored both of his touchdowns in the final 12 minutes. He caught a 46-yard bomb from Schnitker, shaking off a Railsplitter tackler as he staggered across the goal line. The touchdown cut the visitors� lead to 20-17 after one of Schnitker�s four PAT kicks.

After a rare series in which the Jacksonville defense forced Lincoln to punt, Schnitker and the Crimsons drove 62 yards in eight plays for a go-ahead score, with junior Jacob Mills bursting in from the four with 3:39 to play, giving JHS a 24-20 edge.

The Railsplitters roared right back, going 63 yards in nine plays. The key came on a fourth-and-nine from the JHS 24, when Harnacke rolled to his right and fired a 23-yard bullet pass into the chest of running back Fred Dorsey. Harnacke plunged over from the one on the next play, lifting his team to a 27-24 lead, after Jeff Green�s PAT, with 1:34 to play.

Jacksonville�s special teams nearly bungled the ensuing kickoff return, but Phelps alertly fell on the loose ball at the 30, giving Schnitker 70 yards and one minute, 34 seconds to work with. The Crimsons QB quickly completed three sideline passes in a row, using up only 16 seconds as the team moved to the Lincoln 39.

After an incomplete throw, Schnitker found Harris for eight yards, then gave to Mills, who burst for 11 yards to the Railsplitter 20 with 1:10 to play. Then Schnitker kept the ball and gained seven yards to the 13, with 44 seconds remaining.

Lincoln called a time-out to set up its defense. It didn�t matter. Grounds had just the right play in mind.

�They were packing their defense inside,� said Grounds. �We felt that if we got one block and then got the pitch off (it could work). We kept that play in our pocket. We�d had some success with it earlier on, when we were driving to take the lead.�

On second and three from the 13, Schnitker option pitched to Phelps, who dodged one tackler, then raced to the corner of the end zone for the go-ahead score. Schnitker supplied the crucial PAT, making it 31-27.

�I kept my mind focused, caught the pitch, looked for some grass and found it, then I just got to the end zone as fast as I could,� said Phelps. The junior finished with 105 total yards on two receptions and six rushes.

�This is the best game of my life so far,� said Phelps. �Hopefully, there�s more to come. This has been a dream of mine, and this is great.�

Shaner praised his squad for fighting until the very end, even beyond the point when members of the JHS squad thought they were safe to celebrate.

�I told my kids, �Hold your heads up when you walk off the field, because there�s nothing to be ashamed of,�� said Shaner. �This team has shown a lot of character and a lot of heart all year long. We�ve had five close games so far. We�ve come out on the right end of two of them and the wrong end of three of them.�

One key factor, almost forgotten in the fourth-quarter excitement, was the kicking game. JHS� Schnitker kicked a 29-yard field goal at the end of the first half to give the Crimsons a 10-7 lead at intermission. Early in the fourth quarter, Lincoln�s Green missed a point-after attempt.

If Schnitker had not made the earlier field goal or if Green had made one more PAT, then the Railsplitters (2-6, 2-5) could have won or tied the contest with a field goal in those last four seconds instead of being forced to throw into the end zone.

Jacksonville has won four in a row � three of them in ugly fashion that needed late defensive stops to preserve victory. But so what? The Crimsons are likely going to the playoffs.

�The bottom line is, we won,� said Grounds. �It�s Senior Night. Five wins. Winning season. Hopefully, we�ve qualified for the playoffs. We�re going to enjoy this for two days, and then we�ve got to prepare for Dunlap.

�They�re (Dunlap) going to be 7-1,� Grounds continued. �We knocked them out of the playoffs last year, and I�m sure there�s going to be a big revenge factor.�